Home Educating in France?

Gareth Lewis writes about his experience of home-educating in France.

We moved to Brittany with our three children ten years ago. They had all been home-taught in the UK but  were quite keen to attend French schools when we moved over here. The reality, however, did not match up to what we had imagined and after a few months we were all back at home together, which is the way that it has stayed.

There has been a certain amount of publicity over recent years suggesting that home education has become almost impossible in France. That has certainly not been our experience or the experience of other people in our region (we live in Brittany). It is probably true to say that home education is not a commonly selected option in France, and that native French people may be treated with a degree of suspicion when they choose not to avail themselves of the extraordinarily well-funded facilities provided by the school system; but  there is also a widespread awareness that there are deep-seated problems within the education system and, in our experience at least, parents who try something different are generally greeted with interest and support.

We are always interested to hear from people who are home-educating in France or who are considering it, and are happy to pass on any information that we have: Gareth Lewis 

The February Freedom in Education Newsletter contains an article about Home Educating in France click here to read.                 Home